Welfare webinar: Minimising animal suffering with refined humane endpoints and early interventions

Clearly defined, refined humane endpoints can significantly improve animal welfare without compromising the scientific aims of a study. Humane endpoints and early interventions should be tailored to specific animal models, rather than what is legally permitted across multiple studies.  

Through model specific examples and expert insights from across sectors, talks will consider:

• How refined models can enable earlier recognition and application of humane endpoints.
• The role of analgesia, supportive care and procedural refinements in minimising suffering.
• Development of humane endpoints that are scientifically relevant, model-specific, easy to apply and objective.
• Strategies for aligning early interventions with study objectives to ensure animals do not experience unnecessary suffering.

The content will be delivered online over two lunchtime sessions. 

• Part one: Registration is now closed.
• Part two: Registration is now closed.

Registration for each session will close 24hrs before the webinar start time. 

Part one: Thursday 11 September, 12.30 – 13.30

• Refining bone marrow ablation and reconstitution in mice.
  Penny Hawkins, RSPCA.
• Snakebite envenoming studies.
  Stuart Ainsworth, University of Liverpool.
• Humane endpoints, focusing on body weight change as an objective measure of toxicity.
  Mark Blee, Toxicology and Regulatory Sciences team, NC3Rs.
• Managing animal welfare and humane endpoints in preclinical safety studies: balancing pharmacological activity and scientific endpoints.
  Romalie Allen, Labcorp.

Part two: Tuesday 16 September, 12.30 – 13.30

• Minimizing potential suffering in rodent models for pain research
  Klas Abelson, University of Copenhagen.
• Severity heat maps – Developing consensus in severity assessment.
  Helen Murphy, GSK.
• Improving in vivo modelling of ischaemic stroke and animal welfare.
  Claire Gibson, University of Nottingham.
• A comprehensive welfare scoring system for Graft Versus Host Disease clinical assessment in humanised mouse models.
  Alice Nowak, AstraZeneca.

Those wishing to receive a certificate of attendance will need to attend the majority of both parts of this webinar (you will need to register for part one and part two separately using the zoom links above). 

To be eligible for a certificate you must also register using your institutional email address and will be reviewed by the NC3Rs team in line with our policy on attendance at NC3Rs events (PDF). 

Please email enquiries@nc3rs.org.uk after the webinar to request a certificate.